Italian Pastries

On my trip to Italy last week, not only did I discover ancient relics, historic churches and fantastic vistas, I also discovered Italian pastries. Already a big fan of pasta, pizzas and risotto, I welcomed my new Italian, culinary discovery with open... er, mouth. 

It all started one morning, when I was wandering around Sorrento, in search for a place that served breakfast. Sorrento isn't exactly London, so I couldn't quite find anything that was open on a Sunday morning. After walking around a few blocks I walked into an ice cream and coffee shop called Primavera Sorrento. So many pastries in different colours, shapes and sizes were tempting me from behind the glass counter, so the pressure was on. Which one should I pick? The good thing is that most pastries also come in mini sizes so I created a nice little breakfast selection.

Unfortunately I couldn't sample all the Italian pastries, but I did manage to get through these:

•  Baba Rum: It's kind of like a brioche, the only difference being that the Baba is completely drenched in rum. Make sure you have a napkin at the ready as rum will drip. 

Photo by mariateresat. off flickr

Cannoncini: Italians do seem to like their nutella, and I'm no different. I couldn't get enough of this horn shaped pastry, filled with nutella.

•  Cannoli: Hard biscuit rolled up like a taco and filled with a ricotta cream and sprinkled with some dusting sugar. 

Sfogliatina: These are made with puff pastry dough and I've found they can be filled with either custard cream, a lemony cream or of course nutella.

Zeppole: These are like profiteroles or cream puffs, but they're filled with a lemony custard cream and topped with cherries.